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Tony
Hawk’s Pro Skater 3

Score:
9.9/10

Neversoft
had a tough assignment ahead of them. As the development team that made
the most perfect skateboarding game known to videogaming mankind, Tony
Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, how could they improve it the next time around?
For the answer, check out Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 (THPS3) on the Xbox,
the newest and, beyond any doubt, best in the series that has
unquestionably defined what it takes to create the perfect skating game
which has spawned many wannabe imitators.

Playing
THPS games has become one of the best ways to spend some quality time
with the console of your choice over the past few years. It’s just
plain all-out video game fun. THPS2 was a great improvement over the
original. THPS3 does the same trick, enhancing a great game that many
thought would be hard to upgrade any higher. How does it do it? Let me
count the ways.

THPS4’s
Career Mode goal system has been changed too. Each one of the nine
levels still has goals that must be completed to gain stat points and
cash for upgraded equipment and clothing, but now there is no rush to
complete the goals in a restrictive time frame. The levels are free roam
and you only take on a level goal when you are ready to – even better,
they don’t have to be done in any particular order. But some of the
goals are ridiculously hard. This is by far the most challenging of the
THPS titles to date. The C-O-M-B-O goal is easily the most difficult
goal on each level.

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First
of all, Neversoft went and tweaked the already-effortless game control
and came up with an more taunt schematic, even in light of the Xbox
controller and its large number of available controller options (six
color-coded buttons, two triggers, two analog sticks and one directional
pad) which many people seem afraid of handling (and some have trouble
holding). But as I have learned from some heavy Xbox gaming, don’t be
afraid, folks. While it looks scary, the Xbox controller is really easy
to learn to use, and in THPS3 this holds true. A more formidable trial
awaits you in THPS3 as you learn to control your skater’s balance on
lip, rail and manual moves. This was an easier function in previous Pro
Skater games. Now, even experienced THPS players will need to master the
many new tricks available in your repertoire. 720 and even 900 tricks
are simpler to pull off with some practice, and there are tons more
customized tricks for each skater. But the tighter and more fluid
control scheme imbedded into the game makes getting adept in the
Hawk’s third world no problem. There is also the inclusion of the new
vert landing, which after a quick run-through practicing with the fresh
tutorial feature hosted by Tony Hawk himself will be a snap to master
and increase your scoring.

The
best feature of the game is the vastly increased size of the eight
levels to explore in the game. You won’t get bored roaming the
creatively designed interactive worlds that Neversoft has given you to
skate. These levels seem to have more thought put into their layout, as
every part of each level has somewhere you can go to either grind, ollie
or flip air tricks to rack up some serious game points. By far the
biggest level is the airport. It’s an amazing layout considering the
smaller type of levels anybody who has played the previous games is used
to. Neversoft has also designed an extra Xbox-only oil rig level to make
up for the game’s inexcusably long wait to appear in Microsoft's
console world.

Each
skater’s statistics such as their rail balance and speed aren’t
purchased at the skate shop as before. Collecting one of five THPS3
coins placed throughout each level increases your stats instead. This
makes the going a little difficult in the early levels, but after
finding a few of these coins and applying them to your skateboarder’s
stats, the game becomes much less difficult. Acquiring new boards on the
levels doesn’t do anything for your skating ability though. Unlike
THPS2, the new boards you discover hidden on each level don’t upgrade
your control skills, which is a little puzzling. You still have to spell
out S-K-A-T-E and collect secret tapes, but other level-specific goals
are more interactive and cinematic this time around, even though THPS2
introduced some of this game action too. In Los Angeles, you have to
start an earthquake by grinding on four rails and help the cops nab a
van-driving shooting maniac by dumping a car stranded by the quake off
the overpass onto the bad guy’s van. After you deposit the car you get
to watch the result play out in a short cinematic clip. In the airport,
there are two skate-buddies waiting for you to deliver their plane
tickets before they can board the plane. But if you go through the metal
detectors or bail before you get to the gate, you lose the tickets and
have to start over again. On each and every level there are these types
of mission-based activities to accomplish. But that’s part of the
game’s charm. It mixes up the gameplay from straightforward
skateboarding to some fun activities that give you a chance to
investigate more of the levels than you normally would if you didn’t
have to complete some of the goals required to move on.

Visuals
are at their most impressive on the Xbox. However, because this is a
multi-port title, one has to wonder what incredible look the game could
have had if it were created exclusively for the most powerful graphic
console of the market today, the Xbox. On the ‘box, The smooth and
sweet graphics hit the screen at a high-octane 60 frames-per-second with
impressive full-screen anti-aliasing that gives the THPS series its
nicest appearance ever on any system. Bright colors drip off the screen
on every level. Check out the drained pool’s mosaic tiling on the
Cruise Ship level or the vividly painted cars roaming the L.A. streets.
The skaters themselves are nicely rendered, as are the many interactive
people walking around each level, particularly the thong bikini-clad
babes and Neversoft hotties you have to impress with your skating
prowess as a level goal on the cruise ship. In every visual aspect the
game is good-looking but, as I mentioned before, somehow doesn’t seem
to take full advantage of what the Xbox is capable of graphically. One
other improvement is to the customized movies that are available for
viewing after you complete each skater’s career mode goals. This time,
they are longer and more personalized, as you can get a glimpse of Tony
Hawk’s house and custom car or Steve Caballero riding his motorcycle
in addition to some sizzling skating film for each included pro skater.
And yes, there are the bail movies that everybody loves showing some
nasty crashes by pros, amateurs and Neversoft development team members
alike.

Multiplayer
options are one of the game’s only letdowns. While it’s true you can
play with up to four players, you can only accomplish this by linking up
Xbox systems. Which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you
consider that there are four controller ports on the Xbox and that the
earlier Xbox-exclusive THPS game, THPS2x had four-player gaming options
available on one system. You are only able to get two-player action on a
single Xbox this time around, which can be fun, but obviously not at the
same level as having four players going at it at one time. The game also
has some online gaming options built-in for those expert enough in
online gaming to set up a broadband connection with three other players
on GameSpy (which unfortunately doesn’t include me in its
fraternity) but true online capabilities most likely won’t appear
until THPS4 is released, when Microsoft should have its online gaming
network already up and running. There are the usual varieties of
more-than-one modes available, including the returning King of the Hill,
Trick Attack, and Graffiti. “Slap!” replaces THPS2’s Tag mode, but
essentially plays the same way.

The
music is basically the same mix of hip-hop and punk that has graced
earlier versions. It doesn’t have the same quality as either THPS or
THPS2, but some Alien Ant Farm and some older Red Hot Chili Peppers save
the soundtrack from slipping too far. And even if you don’t like ANY
of the game’s songs, THPS3 on the Xbox lets you take full audio
control with the soundtrack management capabilities of the system, so
you can rip your own skate-shredding tunage into the game. Sound effects
stay about the same quality as previous THPS games. The sound of your
board speeding over different surfaces has different audio tone
qualities. The cars, pedestrians, and other interactive pieces of the
various levels have that just-right amount of sound interaction. Nothing
really stands out sound-wise as the unbelievably realistic cawing birds
on the Marseilles level of THPS2 though.

Besides
the usual suspects returning like Bucky Lasek, Steve Caballero and
Rodney Mullen and including the one-and-only legend himself, Tony Hawk,
the cast of 13 skateboard superstars available subtracts Bob “signed
on with another title, ESPN X-Games Skateboarding” Burnquist and adds
Bam “star of MTV’s Jackass” Margera. Of course there is the
requisite hidden characters to unlock. Star Wars fans will enjoy being
able to choose the bad boy of the Phantom Menace flick, Darth Maul.
While THPS2 unleashed Spider-Man on the skating scene, included this
time around is my all-time favorite character from the Marvel comic
universe, the clawed wonder, Wolverine. Instead of having only a few
different clothing options available, you now have literally dozens of
choices including the skater’s headwear, shirt, pants and shoes. And
last but not least, you can again take advantage of the vastly improved
Create-A-Skater option. THPS3 includes female characters to create and
complete control over the frankensteinish creation’s skin tone,
clothing and accessories. Going along for the enhancement ride is a
refined skate park editor. It operates similar to its predecessor, but
gives many, many more rails, funboxes, and ramps to design your very own
homemade skate park.

The
Hawk series soars to its highest echelon in its Xbox incarnation by
besting the other earlier releases on the PS2 and GameCube, especially
in the graphics department and giving meaning to the old saying
“saving the best for last”. With its huge and creative levels,
stellar graphics, and improved tighter control, THPS3 has more depth and
re-playability than ever before. This is one game that is going to be
hard to improve upon, but I’m sure the good folks over at Neversoft
will have one or two goodies to throw our way in Hawk’s next flight.
THPS has not only become the definitive skateboarding game, but after
its third consecutive amazingly solid-in-all-facets installment, has
quickly not only established itself as one of the best sports titles,
but one of the best games of any video game genre out there today. A
gotta-have title regardless of what next-generation system you own,
particularly the Xbox. With the announcement of THPS4 as already under
development, one can only salivate in mouth-watering anticipation while
playing this already-classic rendition.